According to The Joint Commission, a hospital accrediting organization, patients continue to acquire healthcare-associated infections at an alarming rate. The Commission has therefore established a list of National Patient Safety Goals (“NPSG's”) to combat these infections. NPSG #7 for 2011-2012 specifically addressed sterile environments and the prevention of healthcare-associated infections:                NPSG #7.01.01: Comply with either the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines or the current World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene guidelines.        NPSG #7.03.01: Implement evidence-based practices to prevent health care-associated infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms in acute care hospitals.        NPSG #7.04.01: Implement evidence-based practices to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections.        
Current clinical practice generally provides for the delivery of sterile solutions (e.g. drugs, fluids, and/or blood) via uncapped luer lock syringes into uncovered luer lock needleless IV ports. In order to ensure a sterile environment, practitioners currently either swab the needleless IV port with alcohol or use single-use alcohol impregnated caps that are placed on the needleless IV port for about three minutes before delivery. As evidenced by The Joint Commission's finding that patients continue to acquire healthcare-associated infections at an alarming rate, these measures are not always effective in ensuring a sterile environment.
Various systems have been designed to aid medical professionals in the intravenous delivery of sterile solutions. Such systems are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,556 to Brugger et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,774 to Utterberg ; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,067 to Tsukada; as well as U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2012/0238965 and 2100/0298783 to Chang, the figures and descriptions of all five of these patents and publications being incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. However, these systems are lacking in many regards. For instance, none of these systems ensures a sterile environment, and extra precautions such as those described above must therefore accompany their use.